Submission #26401 by Temple Beth Ahm Men's Club - Aberdeen, NJ (923)

Submission information
Submitted by sarbital
Thu, 2022-10-13 08:33
69.119.105.62
2023
I have read the 2023 Torch Awards Program Guidelines.
Club Name
Temple Beth Ahm Men's Club - Aberdeen, NJ (923)
Virtual Jewish Experience Around the World
Club Representative
Person completing form
Dr. Jeff Shore
Seth
Arbital
Club President at time of convention if known at this time
Seth
Arbital
Club President Now
Seth
Arbital
Educational Programming

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We hire tour guides who present virtual tours of Jewish history and Jewish communities/sites from different countries around the world. This started during the Covid-19 lockdown and has continued. We cosponsor these events with our Sisterhood. These virtual tours use licensed tour guides via Zoom meetings.
Due to Covid-19 restrictions, travel was restricted. Tour guides started offering virtual tours. Our club started investigating these tours and what the tour guides offer that would be well received by our temple community. The obvious first choice location was Israel. We reached out to our Sisterhood for cosponsorship, and they enthusiastically said yes. Our first virtual program was a 2 part tour of Israel (using two separate guides)- first of the Old City of Jerusalem, and second of the Northern Region. This was so well received, that we decided to continue this program to present the Jewish experience in other parts of the world. Our World tours have now included, Paris, Ukraine, Egypt, and Morocco. They include Jewish history, Jewish Life and Jewish Sites. We are working to continue this program to other regions of the world. Our decisions of which regions to choose are based on congregational feedback/requests. We do present these as free to our temple community, but for the last two tours, we have asked for $18 donations to offset some of the costs.
Attachments
Self Assessment
The feedback has been tremendous. Attendance has averaged 50-75 attendees for any given tour. We are being asked by our congregants for additional tours. And while we do not push for the donations, the mention of it on our flyers have resulted in donations totals between $150-250 for each of the last 2 tours we did. These tours inspire conversations between members and help bring the temple community together, while learning about Judaism, Jewish life around the world, and Jewish historical influence.
This program allows our temple community to understand Jewish life around the world without the travel expense and/or time that many cannot afford. These tours bring a sense of community, where attendees can share the tour experience in addition to adding their own experiences from their travels. The result is a closer community, knowledge, and a sense of Jewish pride.

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Original Program
Previous Submission
Yes
Bronze